Salaries FAQ

Apr. 8, 2005 10:41 AM

Written by

the Press-Citizen

Q: When does the Salaries edition come out?

A: We print the Salaries edition on the first Tuesday of April.

Q: Why do you print all of these salaries every year?

A: These salaries are paid for, in most cases, by your tax dollars. We think it is important that citizens in a democracy have an idea of what their tax money is going toward. Every time a new road or a new government building is built, we report the cost.

Salaries are another government expense, and they are an important one. Publishing salaries is simply another way to look at government spending.

Salaries are a matter of public record, and any citizen is entitled to the information. However, the information can come at a cost and oftentimes comes from a multitude of governmental bodies.

To make it easier for citizens to access this information, the Press-Citizen does the work once a year to compile these once a year so citizens can have it all in one place.

Q: Why do you only print salaries above a certain amount in the paper?

A: We only have so much space in the newspaper to devote to salary listings of public employees. So, we choose a cutoff level so that we limit the number of listings. As salaries rise over time, we periodically adjust the cutoff.

Online, we don't have space constraints, so the cutoff is lower. We make the cutoff $20,000 because most goverment workers below that level are part-time or temporary employees.

Q: Where do I go to find listings less than the cutoff in the newspaper?

A: Those salaries will appear online at www.press-citizen.com/salaries. We post the online version of Salaries the first Monday after the print version appears.

Users will also find links to previous online salary editions to compare how much of a change employees’ salaries have undergone. Also, you can always get a salary listing yourself by contacting the above governments. The information is all public record.

Q: I know that (insert person's name) earns more than $45,000 a year and his/her name isn't in the listings. Why?

A: There is a number of reasons why someone isn’t listed.First of all, the person you’re thinking of might not actually make that much.

Another possibility could be that the person started working for the government after the Press-Citizen requested the salary listings. This year, the request went out in February and most listings are current as of then. Listings are for the current fiscal year, which for most doesn’t end until July, so many governments calculated salaries based on what an employee is expected to work.

Also, some governments aren’t able to provide us with information that is immediately up to date. Sometimes the listings only reflect those employed as of last year, or as of the last fiscal year. With the advent of computers, this is happening less and less.

And there could also be some obscure reason why someone slipped through the cracks. They could have been on a leave of absence or some other unique situation.

Q: Does the Press-Citizen take people's names out if asked, or if a government employee is a friend of someone who works for the Press-Citizen?

A: Absolutely not.

Q: In the University of Iowa listings, what is the difference between "General Fund," "Other Funds" and "Total?"

A: The general fund is money that comes from the university’s general operating budget, which comes from taxpayer money and tuition paid by students.

The “Other Funds” category for a faculty member is almost always money that comes from some kind of research grant. For a physician at University Hospitals, “Other Funds” also includes money from the Faculty Practice Plan, which is money doctors earn for providing care to patients. Doctors are usually paid out of the general fund only if they teach a medical course.

You’ll notice that most employees of University Hospitals are paid exclusively out of “Other Funds.” That’s because most are paid through money that comes in from patients, not out of taxpayer coffers.

That’s also true of other university departments, including Parking and Transportation and Residence Services, that are designed to pay for themselves.

Q: Are all the salaries listed paid for by taxpayer dollars?

A: Not necessarily. Some employees are paid for out of revenue generated by fees they charge for their services, not out of taxpayer dollars. An example is the U.S. Postal Service, which pays its employees out of stamp revenue.

So why do we list postal employees? They are still government employees and a government monopoly on certain kinds of mail.

Q: I'm listed in your Salaries edition, but my salary is wrong. Why?

A: In most cases, the listings reflect only base pay, not pay earned for things such as overtime or performance bonuses. Also, maybe your research grant hasn’t come through the payroll system fully.

In other cases, the salaries reported to us were given to us in terms of “per hour” or “biweekly.” In that case, the annualized salary had to be calculated. Depending on how much you work, your actual salary for the year might end up being different.

Q: I know that Steve Alford and Kirk Ferentz are making more money than what they are listed for. Why?

For the most part, all coaches earn at least a little bit more than what they are listed for. In the case of big-time coaches such as the men's basketball and football coaches, they often earn more from outside the university than from the university itself.

For the precise numbers, contact the athletic department. Their outside, athletic-related income is public record.